Maria and the Royal Family Mentors Program

Think about your most valued possession.

What if it suddenly went missing? Think of your very favorite place to be… your very favorite person to be there with… and imagine both of them gone. It happened last summer to Maria.* And it wasn’t the first time. She had just completed the best week of her young life: a week at Royal Family KIDS Camp – an entire week of love poured out, hope for tomorrow, positive affirmations, confidence building and safe nights.

But the week was over. And it was time to go home.

She suddenly became quiet and withdrawn, looking at the ground, her little feet shuffling nervously in the dirt…. “Do you see anyone you recognize?” her counselor asked. “No,” Maria replied just as a man approached. “Hi, I’m Maria’s new social worker, and I’ll be taking her to her new foster home.”

Maria’s counselor watched as the child dutifully slipped her hand into that of the social worker and walked away, one small bag of possessions to call her own. No home, no family, no place of belonging. At that moment, Maria’s counselor determined that she would become Maria’s mentor – the one relationship in Maria’s life that the little girl could count on.

This is why our Royal Family KIDS Clubs and Mentors Program exists – for children like Maria – with no home, no family, no place of belonging.